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Communicating
Your Message, Part 4
By Kevin Myers
EVERY
SEVEN DAYS
It's
Sunday afternoon. The Atlanta Falcons deliver another interception. Ugh,
whatever! I can't afford to get irritated. It's not like it's going to change my
life. Besides, I have my own intensity to deliver at 6 p.m. (the third of three
duplicate services). And that IS supposed to change someone's life.
This
is not to get your attention. This is to protect my focus. Even though it's my
third time delivering this communication, it's the first time for the Sunday
night attendees. Hence, one of the guiding principles God settled with me long
ago: No 'B' Sundays – No 'B' Deliveries (as opposed to 'A' level). This was
huge in the early days and it still is. I used to think that someday, when we
were no longer worshipping in a temporary Jazzercise facility with fifty people,
I would craft and communicate at the 'A' level. All I needed was an 'A' sized
crowd with an 'A' type facility and an 'A' worship experience. Therefore, the
size of the crowd determined the size of my preparation and passion.
Worse
than that, I used to feel better about my communication based upon the size of
the crowd. I hope someone will own up to this with me: we all know that certain
holiday weekends, days of inclement weather, or smaller crowd sizes can tempt us
to relax a bit...to reduce the intensity of prayer and not necessarily give an
'A' delivery. Major mistake. The principle is simple – every time I
communicate: always 'A' prayer, 'A' preparation and 'A' passion. Every Sunday is
'A' – no 'B' Sundays.
I'm
convinced that the 'B' syndrome ranks higher than we would like to admit as a
dulling agent to our communication edge. A few Falcon players attend our church
and I enjoy the intensity that arises in athletes who know how to center for
game day. Whether it's intuitive or has been ingrained upon them through
training, high level athletes possess an 'intensity switch'--a game face with
game focus. And it's just a game. It doesn't change anything that lasts. We get
to communicate for change that lasts. For us, the purpose is communication with
spiritual intensity. As a rule, I'll never deliver anything with spiritual
intensity greater than I lived during the seven days turnaround.
What
does a spiritually intense week look like every seven days? I can only offer my
journey. I'm convinced that the principles parallel, but the practices are
unique to your particular profile as a communicator. (What is a communicator's
profile, you may ask? That's another subject--ask Dan.)
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Monday: I use Monday mornings for Gratitude
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When
possible, I love to jump on my motorcycle and cruise to a Starbucks where I
won't meet many Crossroads people. I bring the computer and journal and reset my
spirit in alignment with His. I love Mondays.
"So Father, what did we win this weekend? At one moment during
the first service, the Holy Spirit showed up like when you fell on Gideon and he
blew the trumpet to call Israel to battle. That was a rich kindness. It was not
in my notes, but it was in your heart Father. I am so grateful. Oh, and Sandra,
the recently attending seeker, spoke of a major breakthrough. Father, you
obviously tunneled to her thoughts and wrestlings. Only a God like you can
create a spiritual moment that alerts the soul to the reality that you are alive
and at work. You are waking her up inside..."
You
get the point. Gratitude is one path to growing my communication. Through
gratitude, I connect with the Father on Mondays and discover where we won and of
course where we did not win. I don't do much else on Monday in regards to
communication. My faith is enlivened and I reaffirm that communication is an
adventure in dependency. I ask the Father to continue to work in the hearts of
people to press the one thing from the weekend. By noon, Mondays loose their
appeal as I step into the "stuff" of ministry. Smile.
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Tuesday: Is 3-30-3 day (mostly about thoughts)
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3-30-3
is a preparation guide to each weekend communication. If for example, just prior
to teaching, you interrupted and asked me to teach for three hours, or thirty
minutes, or three minutes on the given outline, I am able to deliver.
The
"three-minute" is the concise communication of the one thing I want
people to KNOW and the one thing I want them to DO. It has to carry compelling
insight that captures the mind and engages the heart. It's one of the most
difficult things I do as a communicator.
How
do you get to the three-minute? In short, the three-minute is the great thought.
Most great thoughts emerge on the summit of many good thoughts. Therefore,
Tuesday is the collection of the many good thoughts. From prayer leadings to
scripture study to thoughts filed around the idea to books to chasing thoughts
around the web, I compile the many good thoughts. As I marinate in the pile of
many good thoughts, I look for what they all have in common. This is always
driven from the truth of God's Word with prayer and consistent with the issues
of humanity.
I
walk into a 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. meeting with our Pastor of Worship and Arts, Dave
Ronne. He steps into this meeting after a two-hour detailed review of the DVD
from the weekend services and brings any of those issues to the table. Then we
press through series.
Here's
an illustration: Since it's November 4, we will discuss the broad ideas for the
March series under the working title The Six Skills of Quality Relationships.
We will also touch on the broad packaging of the finance/money series for
February. In addition, we will discuss the four-week series on prayer titled ASK
for January with each week's summary direction. We will then detail the weekly
target of each of the four weekends in December, A Midnight Clear. Fifty
percent of our time will be devoted to processing future series.
We
will spend the other fifty percent completing our November series. We will get
into the detailed flow of the next two or three weeks. I will sign off on the
special music, elements and flow so that the three-minute great thought is woven
throughout the service.
What
Dave really wants to hear from me is the "God Moment." Every weekend,
I ask God to give me a clear sense of what matters most to His heart. Where is
He most passionate? Where/what is the one moment when He will show up with
unusual presence and power? Thirty percent of the time, I know this on Tuesday,
fifty percent of the time by Friday, and twenty percent of the time by Saturday
night prayer time. Then, whenever God desires, He confirms or resets it during
the communication. As long as I'm in the vine, God usually grants me the
kindness of keeping me in the loop of what He is doing or allows me to recognize
it when He steps in uniquely.
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Wednesday: Spiritual Intensity (mostly about abiding and study)
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The
morning is more about a deep abiding through worship and prayer. This is not
centered on communication, but often God grants leadings for the teaching in
view of the flood of thoughts swimming around my head from Tuesday. Frequently,
this is a spiritual leadership experience that brings out the warrior within.
Some time between Wednesday and Friday, I am wielding my prayer sword (another
subject) around the worship center as I pray over Crossroads. For me, leading
and teaching are so intimately linked that it is difficult to separate.
Nonetheless, it is rare for me to walk away without something defining for the
upcoming teaching for this Sunday for the series. I journal heavily in this time
and interwoven will be the leadings that I will use on Friday morning.
Additionally,
I will give two hours somewhere Wednesday for concentrated organization of
thought to the coming Sunday. If I do not know the three-minute, I'll endeavor
to land it on Wednesday. By now, I am well into the ability to speak for three
hours, I have a sense of the thirty minutes in concept and I hope I know the
three-minute (with the God moment).
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Thursday: DAY OFF (Great idea, God; to have a day of rest. I love
to work; I love my day off.)
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Friday: Connect and Craft the Outline (conclude content)
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I
arrive at our church prayer walk on the seventy acres adjacent to our
facilities. Someday, thousands more will come to know Christ and walk with him
on this land. Until then, my prayer partner meets me and we do the walk. We pray
for the hour and close with me sharing the three-minute God moment. He prays
over me and Crossroads. This sends me into my prayer study to craft the
communication. What a way to be sent into crafting!
By
noon, I have to deliver the teaching notes to my assistant. Sure, some of you
have to deliver an outline earlier, some not at all. What I have discovered is
that the best communication occurs when it's driven by the communicator rather
than the administrator. In other words, they would love to have my teaching
notes on Tuesday, but it's not gonna happen.
Craft:
It's time for the final outline.
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Saturday: Craft the Communication (heavy on delivery)
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By
now, I already know how I intend to deliver. I am always processing and I
usually know how to deliver with impact. My communication profile leads with
heart and follows with humor. I set up with stories and then sting with the
truth. I talk with people, rather than at them. I am open with my life and often
illustrate with personal experiences. This is advantageous because I speak in
the same church forty to forty-five weekends per year and have been doing so for
sixteen years. This way we do life together and authenticity keeps me a part of
the human race, rather than just being a pedestal pastor. I use common
illustrations to connect with common life. I move from intellect to insight. I
take the complex and make it simple.
I
try to be fresh, which is different from being trendy. Fads are "in
things," whereas freshness stems from the thing God is doing in you. I will
be as fresh in communication as God is fresh in me. As God is fresh in me, He
right-sizes His purpose in my life. I step up each weekend to right-size the
purpose of God in their lives. All week, the world has downsized God-things and
super-sized world things. I get to encourage them to right- size as God delivers
through me. Communication at Crossroads is a catalyst for change.
By
Saturday night, I show up for the 9:15 p.m. prayer time. After sharing the
three-minute God moment, we pray for an hour or two over the people, the
service, God's agenda and seek His face. They pray over worship and over me.
I
show up at 7 a.m. and review the communication. Just before I step up to
communicate, I have been prayed over in the prayer room by treasured prayer
partners. I know they are praying all through the service. Something of God
within me confirms that it took all 7 days to remain in the vine with intense
prayer, intense preparation, intense crafting, intense memorization and yet it
all depends upon the power of God in the hands of intercessors. Who couldn't
land a thought with people praying and God answering?
After
the morning services I'll go home and watch the Falcons. And unless Vick comes
back, they'll continue to throw interceptions. Me, I'll have to keep my focus. I
have a message of my own to deliver and I'd rather not throw an interception.
Either way, I get to do this again. For me, it comes every seven days.
Kevin
Myers is the Founding / Senior Pastor at Crossroads Community Church in
Lawrenceville, Georgia. Over the sixteen years of his leadership, God has
blessed the church to grow from about six people to nearly three thousand. Kevin
is a gifted communicator who loves pastoral leadership in the local church. His
weekly messages can be heard at Oneplace.com.
Or, you can go to Crossroadsconnect.com
and follow the link to listen to the weekly message.
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This
article is used by permission from Dr. Dan Reiland's free monthly e-newsletter
'The Pastor's Coach' available at www.INJOY.com.
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